The present invention relates to tubular knit fabric articles having an end of reduced tubular size, and to a method and knitting machine attachment for producing such reduced size ends in tubular knit fabric articles.
Various knit articles are manufactured with ends of reduced size to suit particular uses. For example, tubular knit hosiery is closed at the toe end. This is conventionally accomplished by either seaming or "looping" of the initially open toe end of the tubular hosiery blank in a separate operation after the tubular blank has been knit, which requires additional handling, equipment and processing that add significantly to the overall cost of production as compared with a closing operation that could be accomplished during knitting of the tubular blank.
A toe closing operation accomplished during the overall knitting process on a circular knitting machine is disclosed in Currier U.S. Pat. No. 3,327,500, issued June 27, 1967, which teaches the knitting of a tubular welt-like toe portion that is rotationally twisted prior to completion by effecting relative rotation between the fabric supporting dial and the needle cylinder. This twisting produces a restriction of the tubular opening in the fabric intermediate the dial and needle cylinder, which restriction is disposed as a substantially closed outer end of the toe portion when the welt-like toe portion is completed by transferring. To produce this closed end by twisting, however, it is necessary to modify significantly the construction and operation of the dial drive mechanism of the circular knitting machine, and the resulting toe portion is characterized by an undesirable twisted and bulky appearance.
In contrast, the present invention provides a substantially closed end in the toe portion of hosiery without the disadvantage of twisting and with a simple attachment that can be mounted on a circular knitting machine without modification of the existing machine parts or their operation.